When most people think of APE, they probably think of some high dollar piece of equipment built specially for a disabled child or adult. Well this is not 100% accurate, yes there are specialized pieces of equipment. However the average ball can be modified so many ways for a child with a disability to play with. You can take a normal soccer ball and then cut tennis balls in half and glue them on so it makes a bumpy ball. This ball can be used for individuals who are blind, or who are textual learners. It will look similar to the photo above.2
There are all types of APE equipment that can be made from normal physical education equipment. There are also plenty of websites out there that can help with ordering APE equipment and you could even just make some of it on your own by just looking at how they made it. One good website I found Flaghouse,1 is an amazing website with all kinds of equipment. It has a category just for Adaptive Physical Education, which is then broken down into all types of disabilities from Sensory, Auditory and even just daily living needs.
Gopher sports is probably one of the most known physical education equipment companies in the country. Just like flaghouse, Gopher also has a category set aside just for Adaptive Physical Education. One of the interesting pieces of equipment they have is called a Beeper Ball, it is a soft foam ball that has a beeper inside of the ball. With this ball, students with all disabilities can use it, students who are blind will be able to harness their hearing skills better by listening and determining where the ball is by following the beeper.
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